You are receiving this message since your
browser does not support Java Script or you have Java Scripts disabled in your
browser. The following disclaimer paragraphs are provided below as the
alternative for display of information that would normally be seen on your
monitor when you click on a link to a federal site or if you clicked on a link
to a non-federal site.

All external links to federal sites include an exit Java Script pop-up
disclaimer that includes the following language. "You are now leaving the
Section 508 website. Thank you for visiting our site. We welcome your comments
on how we can make our site more useful."

All external links to non-federal sites include an exit pop-up disclaimer
that includes the following language: "You are now leaving the Section 508
website. Thank you for visiting our site. We welcome your comments on how we
can make this site more useful. You are now leaving this site to link to
another location that is not maintained by the Federal Government. The Federal
Government takes no responsibility for and exercises no control over
non-government sites, the view that may be represented, or the accuracy,
privacy policies, copyright or trademark compliance, or the legality of any
material contained on those sites."

Any questions about exit disclaimers should be referred to the Webmaster at
nguyenk@mdw.army.mil

Don Abbott, of Command Emergency Response Training, walks over to
the Pentagon and extinguishes the flames. The Pentagon was a model
and the "plane crash" was a simulated one.

The Pentagon Mass Casualty Exercise, as the crash was called, was
just one of several scenarios that emergency response teams were
exposed to Oct. 24-26 in the Office of the Secretaries of Defense
conference room.

On Oct. 24, there was a mock terrorist incident at the Pentagon
Metro stop and a construction accident to name just some of the
scenarios that were practiced to better prepare local agencies for
real incidents.

To conduct the exercise, emergency personnel hold radios that are
used to rush help to the proper places, while toy trucks
representing rescue equipment are pushed around the exercise table.

Cards are then passed out to the various players designating the
number of casualties and where they should be sent in a given
scenario.

To conduct the exercise, a medic reports to Army nurse Maj. Lorie
Brown a list of 28 casualties so far. Brown then contacts her
superior on the radio, Col. James Geiling, a doctor in the command
room across the hall.

Geiling approves Brown's request for helicopters to evacuate the
wounded. A policeman in the room recommends not moving bodies and
Abbott, playing the role of referee, nods his head in agreement.

"If you have to move dead bodies to get to live bodies, that's
okay," Abbott says as the situation unfolds .

Geiling remarked on the importance of such exercises.

"The most important thing is who are the players?" Geiling said.
"And what is their modus operandi?"

Brown thought the exercise was excellent preparation for any
potential disasters.

"This is important so that we're better prepared," Brown said.
"This is to work out the bugs. Hopefully it will never happen, but
this way we're prepared."

An Army medic found the practice realistic.

"You get to see the people that we'll be dealing with and to
think about the scenarios and what you would do," Sgt. Kelly Brown
said. "It's a real good scenario and one that could happen easily."

A major player in the exercise was the Arlington Fire Department.

"Our role is fire and rescue," Battalion Chief R.W. Cornwell
said. "We get to see how each other operates and the roles and
responsibilities of each. You have to plan for this. Look at all the
air traffic around here."

Each participant was required to fill out an evaluation form
after the training exercise.

"We go over scenarios that are germane to the Pentagon," Jake
Burrell of the Pentagon Emergency Management Team said. 'You play
the way you practice. We want people to go back to their
organizations and look at their S.O.P. (standard operating
procedure) and see how they responded to any of the incidents."

Burrell has coordinated these exercises for four years and he
remarked that his team gets better each year.

Abbott, in his after action critique, reminded the participants
that the actual disaster is only one-fifth of the incident and that
the whole emergency would run for seven to 20 days and might involve
as many as 17 agencies.

"The emergency to a certain extent is the easiest part," Abbott
said. He reminded the group of the personal side of a disaster.
"Families wanting to come to the crash sight for closure."

In this particular crash there would have been 341 victims.

(Ryan is a staff writer with the Fort Myer Military Community's
Pentagram.)